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The bleachers in the sports complex at the city park were built by the Works Progress Administration, the WPA, a movement of the Franklin Roosevelt administration to give employment to the thousands of unemployed during the Depression.

Carroll Herbert, longtime Peabody mail carrier, avid golfer, and community leader was, as a young man, foreman of the crew that built the stone bleachers, several fireplaces, concrete picnic tables and benches, and the rock wall that encompasses part of the sports complex.

The men also built the stone pillars that mark the entryway to the park. The football and baseball fields also were a WPA project.

However, sporting events had taken place at the park for decades before the WPA projects added bleachers and playing field improvements.

The Peabody Gazette of Oct. 2, 1912, told how 2,000 people came to see the opening game of the football season when Peabody played Whitewater. Peabody won, 62-0. Athletic contests have been a popular activity at the park ever since.

The addition of the WPA fixtures blends another historic era into the story of the Peabody City Park.

Plan to attend the dedication at 2 p.m. Sept. 29 when the park is recognized for its acceptance to the National Register of Historic Places.